Montecito Buys 'Monsters of the Midway' Spec (Exclusive)

The Montecito Picture Co. is getting into the creature feature biz, preemptively picking up Monsters of the Midway, a spec by Jeff Lowell.

The sale reteams Lowell with the Paramount-based shingle, which was one of the entities behind Hotel for Dogs, on which the scribe was a writer.

The plot details for Monsters are being kept in the dark, but the title says it all: an action comedy with supernatural overtones set in a carnival.

Montecito’s Ivan Reitman, Tom Pollock, and Joe Medjuck are producing with Daniel Rappaport and Ben Forkner of Film 360, the producing arm of Management 360. Film 360 developed the project internally and brought it to Montecito’s Ali Bell.

Lowell, repped by UTA and Management 360, also wrote John Tucker Must Die and wrote and directed Over Her Dead Body, which starred Paul Rudd, Eva Longoria and Lake Bell.

Montecito is coming off the strong performance of romantic comedy No Strings Attached, which starred Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher, and has grossed over $114 million worldwide.